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submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by King@sh.itjust.works to c/news@lemmy.world

Moments after Luigi Mangione was handcuffed at a Pennsylvania McDonald’s, a police officer searching his backpack found a loaded gun magazine wrapped in a pair of underwear.

The discovery, recounted in court Monday as Mangione fights to keep evidence out of his New York murder case, convinced police in Altoona, Pennsylvania, that he was the man wanted in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in Manhattan five days earlier.

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[-] cv_octavio@piefed.ca 30 points 1 week ago

Well that clinches it. Bullets are super rare in the US. 

[-] Manjushri@piefed.social 27 points 1 week ago

Not only did they search the bag without a warrant...

Wasser resumed her search after an 11-minute drive to the police station and almost immediately found the gun and silencer — the latter discovery prompting her to laugh and exclaim “nice,” according to body-worn camera footage. Wasser said the gun was in a side pocket that she hadn’t searched at McDonald’s.

She had the bag in her car for over ten minutes, with not witnesses or video, and then after resuming the incomplete search almost immediately found the gun and silencer. My read is that there is every possibility that the gun and silencer could have been placed in the bag during that transport.

An officer concerned about a bomb accidentally being brought to the police station (again) would hardly forget to look in the bag's side pockets. Nor is it reasonable to suggest that they could overlook a gun and silencer in the initial search of the bag.

[-] ameancow@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago

I remember OJ Simpson getting off a double-murder because there was a remote possibility that someone (actually several hundred people) orchestrated a conspiracy to plant evidence.

He stabbed two people to death and there was DNA evidence tying him to the crime scene.

[-] ChokingHazard@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

Not remote, they did. Police corruption let him off. If they let the evidence do its job there was enough to convict.

[-] UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 4 points 1 week ago

They went with their instincts and tried to frame a guy who just happened to actually be guilty, and it backfired on them.

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[-] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 5 points 1 week ago

"nice" is what you exclaim after discovering what your colleague meant by "I put a little something special in there just for you." with a wink.

[-] NutWrench@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 week ago

This. They're trying to manufacture probable cause after an illegal search.

[-] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Yeah, I thought it was known long ago that the chain of possession (or whatever the term is) for the backpack is fucked. Idk why this isn't being used straight away to throw away all evidence.

[-] fodor@lemmy.zip 6 points 1 week ago

It is being used. The defense is moving to suppress evidence (his backpack and anything he said before he was locked up), and that's what these days in court are all about.

The state is trying to tell a complicated story. They claim that he (a) wasn't detained, (b) voluntarily gave them a fake ID because ... nobody knows why, (c) he didn't feel like he was being detained, and therefore (d) they arrested him for the fake ID, after which (e) they read him Miranda, and after that (f) they searched his bag as part of arresting him.

That lets them maximize the evidence against him. The problem for the prosecution is that probably the above is actually factually incorrect. It's the judge's job to determine exactly where the prosecution and cops are making shit up, which is why the hearings are happening right now. Later the judge will rule on what actually happened, and therefore what evidence can be admitted against him.

The proceedings right now are before the trial. No jury is watching this.

[-] axexrx@lemmy.world 4 points 1 week ago

Chain of custody is the right term

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[-] WanderWisley@lemmy.world 25 points 1 week ago

Luigi wasn’t there he was with me, we were picking blueberries in the woods.

[-] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 6 points 1 week ago

This is true.

Source: I'm Luigi.

[-] Quexotic@infosec.pub 6 points 1 week ago
[-] nop@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

I'm Luigi and so is my wife!

[-] Iheartcheese@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

We're all Luigi on this blessed day

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[-] chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world 18 points 1 week ago

I find it hard to believe he was just casually carrying around bullets days after allegedly shooting someone.....

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[-] TheObviousSolution@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 week ago
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[-] lunelovegood@ttrpg.network 14 points 1 week ago

We can't trust any 'evidence' cops find because they have an extensive history of planting it.

[-] n0respect@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

What kind of assassin carries an extra magazine?

[-] themaninblack@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

And days after? Makes no sense.

[-] regedit@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 week ago

Gotta make 100% sure he's good and dead, reload, and then make even more sure he's really dead. Haven't you played those Hitman games?!

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[-] myfunnyaccountname@lemmy.zip 10 points 1 week ago

Was it just a random collection of unfired rounds in different calibers?

[-] MonkeMischief@lemmy.today 2 points 1 week ago

Yeah like, everybody needs a hobby. Sheesh!

[-] muusemuuse@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 week ago

I just think they’re neat.

[-] DylanMc6@lemmy.ml 9 points 1 week ago

i think luigi mangione was framed and wrongfully convicted, and the real perpetrator is out there somewhere. seriously!

[-] thespcicifcocean@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Honestly, yeah. There's not any real convincing evidence that he's actually the killer. That said, I'd still suck him off, even if he's not.

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[-] Makeitstop@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

On body-worn camera video played in court, Wasser was heard saying she wanted to check the bag for bombs before removing it from the McDonald’s. Despite that concern, she acknowledged in her testimony Monday that police never cleared the restaurant of customers or employees.

Unless they had probable cause to believe there was a bomb, that's absolutely no excuse for a search. Might as well just get rid of the fourth amendment altogether if police can just imagine the possibility of a dangerous object and excuse searching anything at any time.

If she really thought there was a bomb, she is recklessly handling this herself instead of calling in a properly trained and equipped bomb squad. But far worse, she claims she needed to check it so as not bring a bomb to the station, but apparently has no problem potentially handling a bomb around a bunch of innocent bystanders.

That she is lying in order to justify what she knew to be an illegal search is actually the least damning interpretation. Either way though, the evidence should be thrown out along with her career.

[-] Manjushri@piefed.social 4 points 1 week ago

I replied at about the same time as you, with similar comment, but I wanted to add that she didn't 'find' the gun and silencer until she took the bag on an 11 minute ride to the station in her car. How do you search a bag for a possible bomb and miss a handgun and silencer? That is an incompetent search or the gun wasn't there during the initial search and was added later.

[-] UnspecificGravity@piefed.social 2 points 1 week ago

Not only that but also somehow failed to find a full sized pistol and silencer while searching the bag for explosives, which is pretty alarming.

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[-] switcheroo@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

Nah I don't believe it. Look at that face. He should be pat on the head and sent home with well-wishes.

[-] BarneyPiccolo@lemmy.today 1 points 1 week ago

With his money, if his victim had been any regular person, he'd already be home, and the victim's family would be living in a new home with a new car in the garage.

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 5 points 1 week ago

Is it not legal to carry bullets any more?

[-] Sunflier@lemmy.world 5 points 1 week ago

Carrying around bullets = murderer?

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[-] EtherWhack@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

I know I don't have a gun, but I have a hard time that you'd bring more than the single magazine you'd have loaded in the gun if your intention is to kill someone then disappear.

[-] frog_brawler@lemmy.world 3 points 1 week ago

Those were my bullets. They were on loan before we went to the range together.

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[-] driving_crooner@lemmy.eco.br 3 points 1 week ago

No way to know if those bullets and other objects on the bag were there or were planted by the cops.

[-] IntrovertTurtle@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 week ago

This. They didn't find the gun or the manifesto until after the bag was taken to the station. Haven't seen the bodycam video, but cops carry 9mm pistols, so it would be incredibly easy for them to plant a mag during his being detained. A gun would be easy to plant once at the station, where they also just happened to 'find' his 'manifesto'.

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[-] delgato@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago

Wouldn’t the bullets that killed the CEO be in the corpse and not Luigi’s bag? Sounds like exculpatory evidence to me…

[-] mechoman444@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

The only useful outcome is acquittal. These rich board room types need to know they're not safe.

[-] skisnow@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 week ago

Ridiculous. There’s like ten thousand people who can testify that he was with them at the time of the shooting.

[-] Zagam@piefed.social 4 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

The problem is that they're all lying to cover for him. i know this because he was with me at the time. We were talking fashion, he was giving me tips.

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this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2025
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